Inquests into the deaths of a couple found dead in a hotel swimming pool during a surprise birthday break will be held today.

Komba Kpakiwa, 31, and Josephine Foday, 22, died at the luxury Down Hall Country House Hotel in Hatfield Heath, Essex, in April last year.

An earlier hearing heard nursing student Miss Foday, from Plumstead, south east London, had celebrated her birthday the previous day. The pair had gone out during the day before returning to the hotel.

Essex Police said a provisional post-mortem examination found their deaths were consistent with drowning.

Miss Foday had lived with her grandmother since arriving in England from her native Sierra Leone in 2001.

Mr Kpakiwa, from Erith, Kent, is understood to have been married with two children.